Justice seen to have favored big business in gov’t land deal

The Philippine government has allegedly been put at a disadvantage after a Supreme Court prevented a government corporation from bidding out a prime property on a military base, thus favoring a tycoon’s company that’s into mall development. The case has raised issues on a justice’s integrity, judicial overreach, and the modernization of the military. SM Land Incorporated sued the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) for supposedly changing the rules mid-way, from a competitive challenge to public bidding, when SM Land was already deep in negotiations with the government agency over its unsolicited proposal. The Supreme Court ruled that SM “has the right to a completed competitive challenge” at P38,500 per square meter for the 33-hectare land occupied by the Bonifacio Naval Station and the Marines. The BCDA claimed it could get a minimum bid of P40,000 per square meter through public bidding.

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